Finally, after more than a decade of denial, Lance Armstrong has admitted to doping while he rose through the cycling ranks to win seven straight Tour de France races.

A national sports columnist wrote after watching Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey that the story that was too good to be true — cancer survivor returns to win one of sport’s most grueling events seven times in a row — turned out to be a farce.

“This story was so perfect for so long. It’s this myth, this perfect story, and it wasn’t true,” Armstrong said.

People say all the time, “You can’t make this stuff up.” Guess what? Armstrong sure did, and he did it for years, and he took thousands of cycling enthusiasts and cancer survivors along for the ride.

He told Winfrey he was “a flawed character.” No argument here, but he’s not the only one. Just take a number and step in line like all the others, loser.

University of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o is also the apparent victim of a hoax. According to The Associated Press, his purported girlfriend died of leukemia in September. Wednesday, the website Deadspin.com posted a story saying there was no evidence she ever existed.

It’s one thing to say he and the rest of the Fighting Irish defense missed more tackles in the BCS national championship game than they did nearly all season. But for someone or some group to create such a hoax — and to have his “girlfriend” die near the same time his grandmother passed away — is simply wrong.

There’s a show on MTV called “Catfish” that features men and women in online relations who discover their significant others are not what they appeared to be. So, can we expect a new reality show, “Flawed Characters,” in the near future?

Who can lie or cheat or deceive their way through life the longest, and be rewarded for it until they get caught? Is this the direction our country is headed?

Growing up in this newsroom for 24 years — reading and writing so many stories about so many good people, so many good groups and agencies in the fantastic communities we are blessed to live in and be a part of — there are those I don’t enjoy reading or writing. It’s a part of life, the reality we live in today.

But it doesn’t mean I have to be silent about flawed characters anymore.

Millions of Americans will watch the second inauguration of President Barack Obama next week. According to many, we nearly fell off that “fiscal cliff” before a “last-minute deal” was reached.

Thanks so much, Congress and Mr. President. I’m feeling the results of that “deal” when I get my paycheck. Oh, but it could have been much worse, you say? Meanwhile, millions of dollars will be spent during the inauguration for the ceremony, the parade, dances, etc.

It seems to me the president got to enjoy this four years ago. Why are we sitting through, and paying for, another rerun?

Why not begin a new presidential tradition? Forego all the pomp and circumstance, and have all those corporate sponsors paying for most of the inaugural stuff keep some of those millions and hire more people? How about helping thousands of the men and women of our Armed Forces who have to live with lost limbs or post traumatic stress disorder after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Much is said online about what the president and members of Congress are paid on an annual basis. How much could get done on Capitol Hill if their salaries — or their retirement benefits, their Social Security, their health insurance — were actually put in jeopardy like the rest of us?

It shouldn’t take Congress weeks to vote on over how much aid to allocate to the victims of natural disasters. It shouldn’t cost $6.4 million for the president to fly Air Force One from Honolulu to Washington, D.C., to “handle the fiscal cliff crisis.” It shouldn’t be a burden for members of Congress to work during their holiday break.

But the beat goes on — we’ll get close to the “fiscal cliff” again, the national debt continues to rise while the debt ceiling threatens to crumble, our elected leaders will preach about what they’re doing to help all of us, and more characters will finally come to terms with their flaws, only when they’re caught, of course.

I will be the first to admit I am far from perfect — sure, I’ve got character flaws. But I still want to believe this is a country with a foundation of trust, honesty and integrity — rather than one full of deceit, greed and self-indulgence.

Maybe there will come a day when we don’t read or write about people who are a flawed character. That will be a good day, for sure.